Samara Heinrichs Prak

Well, here I am, 204 days later, waiting for my winter tires to be put back on my car. Where does the time go? It was May 1st when my friend Kim encouraged me to start blogging. I haven't been the most diligent, but it's been quite a summer. I started out this season making some big goals and looking back on the past seven months, I would say those goals were met and surpassed. My goal coming back from California was to compete in the Spruce Meadows International ring. More specifically, the Nexen Derby that takes place on the Sunday of the National tournament. Not only was that accomplished, I finished in the top ten in both the Nexen Derby and the Sunlife Derby during the North American tournament. It would seem that I enjoy going off cliffs. Humour aside, it has been a year of firsts for me. My first year competing in regional and national standard grand prixs in the states. My first year competing in the International Ring. My first year winning a class at the Spruce Me...

The silent killer. We all know what it's like to deal with show nerves, or anxiety. That happens most days of the week, regardless of how well you've prepared, what ribbons have already been won, or how good/bad your warmup went that day. But then we get to the weekend and what I like to call "White Pant Syndrome". Everyone knows what I'm talking about. You've made it through a whole week practically unscathed, but Sunday roles around and you have to put on those white pants again. What is it about wearing whites that does people in? I was living in Arizona years ago and I remember a particularly bad few weeks of horse shows. I was getting around, perhaps learning more about what I shouldn't be doing, than how to do things correctly. Needless to say, consistency wasn't exactly on my side, but it was the Sunday classes that did me in. Two weeks in a row I donned those white pants... and ended up eating dirt. I specifically remember being told that I...